In our age of rapidly advancing technological change, businesses' and organizations' definitions of shared assets increasingly include public or shared computational and other technology resources. Many offices and educational institutions, as well as libraries, shopping malls and many other public spaces, provide public or shared computer workstations and other technology equipment and resources. These resources can be essential to modern communication and integral to commerce, but they can also pose a public health risk by spreading disease and contagions. This problem is acutely prevalent with shared computers, given the high degree of contact users must make with keyboards, touch-screens and other periphery equipment, but it more broadly affects a wide range of technology resources. The present invention offers a novel solution that, among other benefits, can help protect users of these resources and prevent the spread of disease.
A modern college campus provides just one example of the severity of the risk of contagion posed by common technology resources. From the hundreds of public computers in the libraries, to computers in each of several hundred classrooms, and various technology, science and media labs, shared technology resources are abundant on college campuses and essential for students and faculty. However, students and faculty often suffer from the experience of using a computer with greasy keys and other touch surfaces and otherwise interacting with technology resources that are generally unclean. Each time a person uses these resources, she must risk her health and wellbeing by being exposed to bacteria and viruses. The problem is perhaps most severe for low-income students who cannot afford personal computers or laptops and therefore must make greater use of shared resources. However, even students and faculty who own personal computing devices often must use shared technology resources for printing, specialized coursework and other activities. Unsanitary environments such as shared computing facilities risk the spread of disease and endanger the collegiate body as a whole.
Coincident with the modem rise of public computing resources, public health consciousness is higher than ever, particularly in the corporate and collegiate worlds. In many areas, initiatives to promote public health and more sanitary conditions are increasingly visible. In particular, hand sanitizers have become a common fixture in bathrooms, dining halls, gyms and most other public gathering places. Personal hand sanitizers have also been widely embraced, even to the extent that they are often distributed for free by corporations as hand-outs in marketing and recruitment campaigns. Indeed, recent global outbreaks of viruses and other contagions such as SARS, avian flu and the H1N1 virus have served to augment the already expanding sector of personal hygiene products. Industry estimates project sustained market growth for hand sanitizers and other personal hygiene products over the next few years, driven in part by modem public awareness and concern over the spread of disease and the need for readily accessible protection.
Nonetheless, modern health consciousness is often at odds with the requirements of shared technology resources. To date, the aforementioned efforts to promote public hygiene and prevent the spread of disease have failed to address the particular problems associated with shared technology resources and the needs of their users. For example, current hand sanitizer dispenser technology is inadequate to protect many shared technology users. Permanent wall fixture hand sanitizer dispensers like those commonly seen in public restrooms, if they happen to be installed in common technology areas, are generally useful only upon entering or leaving these areas, but they are generally not readily accessible to users while they are at individual workstations. Existing technology fails to provide dispensing where users need it most: at each individual keyboard or touch surface that poses a risk of contagion. Conversely, personal hand. sanitizers are insufficient because only those users who carry them, and apply them each time they use a particular computer or other technology resource, will be protected. Other users risk both contracting and transmitting disease if they have not had access to hand sanitizers and other health-related dispensables.
Indeed, even personal or portable technology such as smartphones and tablet computers can carry and spread disease, as keyboards and other touch surfaces are becoming ubiquitous in our daily lives but, unlike other things we use as frequently, cannot be washed or easily decontaminated. Accordingly, every technology user has a need for readily accessible hand sanitizer and other hygiene products that can protect them from contagion.
Given that each keyboard, touch surface and technology device is a potential site for germs to accumulate and spread, each user is put at risk when hand sanitizers and other personal hygiene products and dispensables are not readily accessible in proximity to each device or component. There is currently a critical unmet need in the marketplace, and technology users of all kinds, from students to corporate professionals to any other owner or user of modern technology devices, are put at risk due to the lack of dispensing technology adequately suited to this problem.
Wall-mounted sanitizer dispensers are common, and certain inventions have provided variations on the standard bathroom variety. For example, U.S. 2012/0273524 A1 discloses a wall mounted pump dispenser, designed to enable users to treat a surface such as a toilet seat with disinfectant formula stored in the device. Additionally, the need for personal sanitation on an immediate and frequent basis is demonstrated by the variety of different portable sanitation inventions. U.S. Pat. No. 7,178,696 enables an individual to both carry a spray bottle of personal hand sanitizer and selectively clip this article to clothing and the like. U.S. 2007/0164050 A1 employs the use of a lever-operated dispenser that can be clipped to a user's belt, waistline, baggage or similar devices. U.S. Pat. No. 6,415,960 provides a spray dispenser that is mounted to the user's arm. Yet, none of these devices are capable of protecting all users of technology resources in proximity to such devices; for example, the wall mounted varieties only protect certain users when they enter or leave public technology areas, and the personal dispenser varieties only protect users who purchase and regularly use them. Although these inventions acknowledge the widespread need for portable hand sanitizer and other hygiene products, none have sought to selectively attach dispensing devices to the keyboard or other parts of modern technology devices.
While no prior invention provides the user of a computational resource with hand sanitizer as provided herein, the use of the keyboard for attaching a technology periphery device has been documented, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,187,468 and 5,413,294 both provide users with a manner of fastening technology peripheries. However, no mechanism is disclosed for attaching a dispenser device, particularly one suited to hand sanitizer or other personal hygiene products, to address the needs of modern technology users.
Substantial scientific evidence has proven the benefits of hand sanitation, and recent research further emphasizes the strong correlation between the availability of personal disinfectants in high traffic areas and use to protect individuals. Brian Sasoni, Vice President of Communications for the American Cleaning Institute in Washington, D.C., claims recent studies show that “if you make it easy for people, if you put hand sanitizer in front of them to use, the more likely they are to use it.” Nonetheless, the need for dispensing technology in close proximity to keyboards and other technological devices remains critically unaddressed.
The present invention solves this pressing need for protecting public health and wellbeing in connection with technology facilities and equipment. It provides a novel apparatus that overcomes the inadequacies of current dispensing technology, allowing dispensable hygiene products to be readily accessible at each keyboard, touch surface and other technology device, periphery, component or accessory (collectively, “User Technology”). The invention enables corporations, universities and other providers of public or shared technology resources to protect their users from the spread of many diseases. Moreover, it could allow any owner or user of modem technology to protect herself by providing ready access to hand sanitizer, health-related and other dispensable products (collectively, “Dispensables”). Moreover, even beyond the realm of User Technology, the present invention can provide ready access to Dispensables to users of non-technology devices and equipment.